Abstract:

"A one-hour narrated videotape by Nazir Jairazbhoy and Amy Catlin. The authors return in 1984 to the original sites of Arnold Blake's 1938 South Indian fieldwork in order to solicit responses to his photographs and audio recordings of numerous performance traditions in an examination of continuity and change. The videotape incorporates Blake's 16mm films and audio recordings. It also shows the background of this Dutch scholar, the methodologies used in both fieldtrips, and concludes with an examination of the impact of classicization, modernization, institutionalization and festivalization on performance. With accompanying monograph: The Blake Restudy in India, 1938-1984: The Preservation and Transformation of Tradition in Tamilnadu, Kerala and Karnataka, by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy. Includes discussion of each scene as well as ethnographic and interpretive chapters, complete video script, maps, four-part index and bibliography. 184 pages, spiral bound."